“LeBron did the first part of practice and then I told him I wanted to rest those legs of his,” Walton told reporters after practice on Sunday. “We’ve got three in four nights coming up.”

Here’s Los Angeles’ schedule for this week:

* Monday — San Antonio

* Wednesday — at Phoenix

* Thursday — Denver

* Saturday — at San Antonio

Two nights later, the Lakers will play at Minnesota, meaning James & Co. will not only play three games in four nights, but also four contests in six nights.

In two games as a Laker, James — who led the NBA in minutes played a year ago for the Cleveland Cavaliers in his 15th NBA season with 36.9 — has averaged 38.0 minutes.

Though a small sample size, obviously, James’ 25.0 scoring average is the lowest since he averaged 20.9 points as a rookie for Cleveland in 2003-04.

In the two games, both losses, James is also averaging 8.5 rebounds, a career-low 5.5 assists along with 1.5 steals, shooting 47.4 percent from the field, 9.1 percent from beyond the 3-point arc and 81.3 percent from the free-throw line.